Sports

UC to play Michigan

The University of Cincinnati football and men’s basketball teams will both play future games against the University of Michigan, UC athletic director Whit Babcock announced today.

The football game is scheduled for September 9, 2017 at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. Michigan (1879) and UC (1885) are two of oldest programs in college football but have never met in football.

The two schools also agreed to schedule a two-game home and home men’s basketball series to be played between the 2015-16 and 2018-19 seasons. The Bearcats and Wolverines have met four times in basketball with UM holding a 3-1 advantage. The schools last met at the 1992 NCAA Final Four (Michigan won), with the previous three games, in 1921, 1923 and 1953, taking place in Cincinnati.

“It is ideally our preference to sign home and home non-conference games,” Babcock said in a statement. “However, the chance for our fans to have a relatively short drive to see us play a great opponent, plus the men’s basketball scheduling component above and beyond the single football game in Ann Arbor, made it a good one-off decision for us. I want to thank Deputy Director of Athletics Bob Arkeilpane for his creativity in getting this deal done from our side and to thank Michigan’s Dave Brandon and his administrative team for their collaboration. We will continue to look at the best scheduling opportunities for UC moving forward and for the chance to promote the Bearcats on a national stage.”

The Bearcats will receive a $1.2 million payout for the football game.